Edmonton Neighbourhood Profile
McKernan
McKernan is an Edmonton neighbourhood of about 933 homes — 95.8% houses and 4.2% condos, most homes built around 1959. The typical (median) house is assessed at $579,500, 29% above the citywide median (49th of 277 neighbourhoods); condos around $419,000. Across its established houses — largely the same properties over time — the median assessed value changed +46% from 2012 to 2025. 49% of homes are owner-occupied, median household income is $92,000, and 1 LRT station sits inside it. Figures throughout are City assessed values — directional and comparative, not exact sale prices ("typical" means the median).
Total homes
933
95.8% houses · 4.2% condos
Typical house
$579,500
29% above citywide · 49th of 277
Typical condo
$419,000
123% above citywide
House $/sq ft
$390
$4,198/m² · 28% above citywide
Typical lot
5,597 ft²
520 m² · 4% above citywide
Typical age
1959
median house build year
Where it is
At a glance.McKernan's location and boundary, with LRT stations and schools marked — green areas are parks and open space.
The homes
What's built here — the housing stock, its age, and the condo & rental supply.
What's here
Mostly houses. 95.8% houses (freehold) · 4.2% condos (condominium-titled).
Building types in detail
Bedrooms — homes here by bedroom count:
6% of homes needed major repairs in 2021, as assessed by their own residents.
Building-type, bedroom and condition figures from the 2021 federal census.
When it was built
Most homes here were built before 1960. The median build year is 1959.
Full age breakdown
Condos & multi-family
12 condo developments here — about 39 condo dwellings, plus 40 purpose-built rental / multi-family buildings.
How condos & rentals are counted
12 condo developments, the largest around 7 units — about 39 condo dwellings in total. Separately-titled parking and storage stalls aren't counted as homes.
40 rental / multi-family buildings, typically built around 2019 — 16 small (under $1M), 22 mid ($1–10M), 2 large (over $10M). Purpose-built rentals (assessed as a single parcel each), separate from the owned homes counted above. Unit counts aren't in the open data.
Living here
The people and the day-to-day — who lives here, and the schools, shops, parks and transit around them.
Who lives here
An even owner / renter mix. Median household income $92,000.
Resident snapshot from the 2021 federal census.
Median household income
$92,000
44% earn $100k+
Homeowners
49%
51% rent
Bachelor's degree or higher
57%
of residents 15+
Commute to work
64%
drive · 14% transit · 20% walk/bike
Median age 29.8; 65% lived at a different address five years earlier.
Residents by age
Median age 29.8.
Household income spread
18% of households reported $200k or more; 23% under $50k.
Government transfers made up 11.6% of residents' 2020 income (including 5.5% pandemic supports — 2020 was a COVID income year); 9.5% of residents were below the low-income measure (LIM-AT).
Household total income, 2020, from the 2021 federal census (income shares and low-income prevalence as reported). Statistics Canada rounds and suppresses small counts, so shares may not sum exactly to 100.
Households & families
Average household size 2.4; families with kids at home average 1.8 children.
What residents do for work
Occupation groups (share of the labour force):
Industries residents work in (top 10; the rest combined):
Unemployment rate in the census reference week (May 2021): 16.3% — a pandemic-period snapshot.
How long people stay
34% of residents had moved within the previous year; 65% lived at a different address five years earlier.
Counts every change of address — moves within McKernan, into it, owners and renters alike.
Housing costs & affordability
A household earning the local median income would put about 17% of it toward typical owner shelter costs here — or 19% toward the typical rent.
Typical owner shelter cost
$1,300/mo
48.1% of owners hold a mortgage
Typical rent
$1,450/mo
median tenant shelter cost
Affordability in detail
Households spending 30% or more of their own income on their own shelter — the standard affordability-stress measure: 16.3% of owner households · 41.9% of renter households. (Different from the headline above, which compares the median cost against the median income — a typical-household what-if, not a count of stretched households.)
In core housing need (unaffordable, unsuitable or inadequate, with no affordable local alternative): 4% of owners · 7% of renters.
Owners' own estimate of their home's value (2021): $645,000 median — self-reported, so it can differ from the assessed medians above.
Owner costs reflect current owners — including long-time, mortgage-free ones — not the cost to buy in today. The income-share figures compare 2020 median household income with shelter costs reported in 2021.
Schools
2 designated public schools. Edmonton Public catchment for McKernan: McKernan and Strathcona.
All schools, levels & catchment notes
Designated public schools (Edmonton Public Schools catchment for McKernan):
- Elementary / Junior HighMcKernanK to Gr 9
- Senior HighStrathconaGr 10-12
Catchments are set by the school board and can change — and the City's published catchment data can lag new schools and boundary updates — so confirm the current designated school with Edmonton Public Schools before relying on it.
Schools located in McKernan:
- PublicMcKernanElementary / Junior High
Independent / private schools aren't in the City's open data, so they aren't listed here. School-quality ratings are published separately by the Fraser Institute (not affiliated with this site).
Shopping & amenities
About 27 businesses in McKernan, employing roughly 542 people.
Business mix & how this is counted
From the City's business census (2025 survey).
The mix of what's here, from currently-licensed businesses:
Counts come from City of Edmonton business licences and the City's business census — a licence means a business is registered at an address here, not a guarantee it's open today , and includes home-based businesses (about 38% of licences here). Landlord rental licences are excluded, and a listing isn't an endorsement.
Parks & green space
4 parks (8.3 hectares) and 7 playgrounds in McKernan.
Parks
4
8.3 hectares total
Playgrounds
7
Green-space types & notes
Types of green space:
- School & community park2
- Pocket park1
- Urban village park1
Counts come from the City of Edmonton's parks and playgrounds open data. A park is attributed to the neighbourhood its centre point falls in, so a large park or greenway that spans several areas is counted once — treat boundaries as approximate. Trail corridors appear here as greenways; off-street bike routes aren't included.
Transit & connectivity
On the LRT network — the Capital line. 1 station sits inside McKernan (McKernan Belgravia). Plus 4 bus routes (1 frequent).
Looking ahead, the nearest future stop is Wîhkwêntôwin / 116 Street on the Valley Line West, about 3.7 km from the centre — under construction, targeted to open later this decade. Timelines can slip, and a nearby line doesn't imply any change in property values.
LRT stations here
1
on the line today
Bus routes
4
1 frequent
Future LRT
3.7 km
Wîhkwêntôwin / 116 Street · under construction
Bus routes & notes
4 bus routes serve McKernan: 4, 9, 654 and 723. They run from 16 boardable stops inside the neighbourhood.
Frequent (≈ a bus every 15 min or better on a weekday): 4.
Bus routes and frequency come from the City's ETS GTFS schedule — the routes whose trips call at stops inside McKernan, with “frequent” meaning at least 100 weekday trips through the neighbourhood (about a bus every 15 minutes or better, counting both directions). Distances are straight-line (“as the crow flies”) from the neighbourhood centre — the actual walking or driving route is longer. Future stations are under construction; their locations and timelines come from City of Edmonton project pages and can change. Day-to-day commute mode (drive / transit / walk) is shown under “Who lives here.” Source: City of Edmonton LRT & ETS (GTFS) Open Data.
The market
Assessed value over time, and recent building activity.
Assessed value over time
Median assessed value changed +46% from 2012 to 2025.
That tracks McKernan's houses — largely the same homes throughout — so it's a real value change, not a shifting mix.
Building activity
Since 2015: 952 building permits, about 1,018 net new homes, and 174 secondary-suite permits.
Of those new units, roughly 26% are individually-owned (houses + condos), 56% purpose-built rental, and 18% in mixed-use buildings.
Split by building type (a strong proxy, not a guarantee of final tenure).
Permits year by year
Permits count every new home built — including purpose-built rental apartments and mixed-use buildings — so this can run well above the "total homes" figure above, which counts only individually-owned houses and condos.
Source
City of Edmonton Open Data — assessment, property info, building permits; Statistics Canada 2021 Census of Population (City of Edmonton neighbourhood tabulation). Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Edmonton.
About these figures. They use the City of Edmonton's annual property assessment — its mass-appraisal estimate of value as of July 1 the prior year, informed by that year's sales but applied across the whole roll at once. That makes it a reliable directional and comparative signal (ideal for "how does this neighbourhood compare"), but not the exact price a specific home would sell for today — for that you need a comparative market analysis. Resident demographics and housing-cost figures (income and its distribution, age, education, commute, tenure, household types, shelter costs, occupations and industries, mobility) and the building-type, bedroom and condition mix are from the 2021 federal census — the most recent neighbourhood-level vintage; the City notes it fell during the pandemic, so treat these figures as directional. Census figures are adapted from Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Trevor Tardif is a licensed REALTOR® with REAL Broker AB Ltd, Edmonton, Alberta. Content on this site does not constitute financial or investment advice.
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